Record-breaking Temperatures Across State May Not Indicate Long-term Trends

It’s been a record breaking week of intense heat, that’s turned the usually tolerable Louisiana spring into a hot, soupy mess. State Climatologist Barry Keim says a high pressure system is camping just off the coast, leading to a historic scorcher that’s taken down long time state records.

“Yesterday we broke eleven temperature records across the state, on Tuesday we broke 33 daily temperature records, and on Monday we broke 41 records across the state.”

A cool front is moving over the area starting today, which Keim says will make things just a little more pleasant this weekend than they’ve been this week.

“I think that we get a little bit of a break. Right now it looks like those temperatures may be damped down a little bit more towards the low nineties, but it will still be uncomfortable, hot and humid, and to still take precautions.”

The unusual heat is peaking with summer right around the corner, leading to concerns that we could be in store for a second year in a row of record breaking heat, but Keim says this unusual weather phenomenon is not an indicator of any long term trends.

“When we have events like this, a lot of people want to read more into it than what’s actually there. But what’s happening now doesn’t really tell us a whole lot about how this summer will play out.”